In a sweet nutshell, this book is horrible.The story focuses on Ellen, a flippy drippy bore with completely fucking warped perceptions of motherhood.Ellen is 35, lives in New York, works for a designer as a Marketing Exec and wants to have a baby. That's it. She seems to want NOTHING else out of her life! She hates her job, her boyfriend is an impotent car wreck of a human being (so head's up, if you're looking for sex in this book, it ain't happenin')!! The only thing she seems to care about, is her 4 year old diapered niece "Pickle". Yes, she calls the kid pickle! I'll get to THAT irritating shit in a minute.I think the most disappointing thing about this book is that Ellen is the most unlikable character! She's the kind of girl I would cross the street to avoid. When she's not focused on how fat everyone else is (all mothers by the way, catty bitch) she's hating them for being able to have a baby! Her life means nothing to her unless she can have a baby. What century are we in??? Plus, she doesn't even seem to care that her boyfriend won't fuck her!! I mean, I see that the author is trying to make her all sensitive and such and that their relationship means more than sex (blah blah blah), but seriously any other woman would be going out of her mind!!! Ellen just sort of mentions it at times, like he keeps forgetting to bring milk home. Seriously?Um, also, if you're desperate to have a baby you kind of need a man with a working penis!!And now the "Pickle". I'm sure she's cute and all, but has anyone realized this four year old is still in pampers??? The over the top sticky sweet moments between her and her niece were enough to make me gag. She even found her pitching a fit and screaming at the top of her lungs adorable. Who does that?Maybe I'm just not as sensitive to "motherly" desires, but as a 35 year single woman myself, I'm pretty happy with my career, family and social standing. What this woman is dying for, I just can't relate to!I mean the writing itself isn't bad, I just found the characters so empty, whiny and annoying. Sorry, but two thumbs down for me.
Having three kids, I can fully relate to Ellen's (the main character who wants to be pregnant and have a child but has no way of getting pregnant) desire to have children. Those of us with kids will get a laugh out of the silly things she does while trying to decide whether to get pregnant and how to get pregnant. Not to mention the who. The whole working mother vs. stay at home mother delimna is really into play, and although it doesn't go into depth about which is "better" (although I don't see either as being "better" than the other, just different from each other), it does bring up the hot topic. I'm not sure I really liked the end and the last 50-75 pages seemed to summarize the end of the story instead of telling the story. There really may not have been a ton to tell at that point though. I don't want to give away too m uch here. :)I grabbed this book because I found it for less than $1 knowing nothing about it. Just the thought of "Dating Big Bird" was intriguing and very odd. There is no actual Big Bird in the story, just a stuffed one. I wouldn't spend a chunk of change on the book, but it was a fast read that offers a different point of view on a topic that I am so familiar with: motherhood.
Do You like book Dating Big Bird (2001)?
2.5this is the sad story of a woman who apparently works in marketing for a famous fashion designer but hates her job because she not-so-secretly wants to be knocked up. so desperate is this woman for her own bebe that she is willing to use her niece ("pickle") as a cheap knock-off just to get a fix. she makes friends with a former acquaintance from high school who also uses her nephew to play "mammo". you can't make this shit up.well, apparently laura zigman can. complicating the plot:1. the protagonist dates a "impoholic" - an impotent, recovering alcoholic2. everyone else around her is uber-fertile and pregnant - boss, sister, co-workers, etc3. she has to plan a baby shower gift for her boss4. she's 35 and thinks big bird is the ideal matesigh. mindrotteriffic.
—Lauren Fidler
Sure, Ellen Franck was excited when her sister became pregnant but she never counted on falling head over heels in love as a result. The minute she held her newborn niece, Nicole (known as Pickle) her heart was stolen and she knew what it was that she was missing in her life. Ellen, 35,hates the term of "biological clock" but she knows that her chances of having a child of her own are diminishing as each day passes. She is in love with a gentle man and has been in a relationship with him for over a year; but he is broken. Divorced after the death of his son, he lost the ability to be intimate with anyone. He will not risk another love, another child and when Ellen asks him point blank to help her have a child, no strings attached, the relationship crumbles.Ellen ponders and researches and discusses with her friends and her sister her options. She knows to have a child as a single parent would not be easy for her or for her child. Should she follow her heart and go forward with "artificial" means of becoming pregnant? Ellen does not make her final decision lightly and as Ellen becomes informed of the details of artificial insemination and its pros and cons, so does the reader.The title and cover of this book made me think I was going to read a side-splitting, laugh out loud comedy. While I did smile and chuckle, I found the book to be a tender and wistful story of many women like Ellen who, rather than settle for a male partner as a means to an end, want to have a child even if it means going it alone.I loved the characters in this story and how they came to life as people I would enjoy knowing and having as my own friends. But the character who stole my heart, just as she did Ellen's, was Pickle. I don't know Zigman's personal bio, but she certainly knows children...at least toddlers and their ability to drive a person to distraction and at the same time melt your heart and make you laugh at the same time.
—Margaret
This one was OK. The concept wasn't bad: a mid-30s singelish woman living in NYC really wants to be a mother. Unfortunately, the way the story unfold wasn't that great, and the events didn't always flow smoothly. I think this could have been a much better story if the writing had been more cohesive, and perhaps if it wasn't the story of a woman working in the fashion industry. That made me feel as if the story should have been funnier, since all books with the fashion industry as a "character" have some element of humor to them.
—Maria
